Erik Stiller will continue his 2006 season at Rookie Ball in Burlington, N.C.

June 11, 2006

PRINCETON - Senior starting pitcher Erik Stiller came to terms on a minor league deal with the Cleveland Indians on Saturday. A week after pitching in the NCAA Baseball Tournament and fours days after graduating from Princeton, Stiller will report for duty with one of Cleveland's Rookie Ball teams, the Appalachian League's Burlington Indians.

Stiller and the Indians open their season on June 21 against the Danville Braves. Stiller will be the fifth Princeton alum to appear on a Minor League roster this season, joining Ross Ohlendorf (AA Tennessee), Tim Lahey (A Fort Myers), Will Venable (A Fort Wayne) and B.J. Szymanski (A Dayton). Two Tigers are still in extended spring and awaiting assignment (Thomas Pauly and Brian Kappel).

Stiller recently completed his fourth year pitching for Princeton with a strong performance against Oklahoma State at the NCAA Regional. Stiller finished the 2006 season with a 3.45 ERA and a 4-4 record. He led both the team and the Ivy League with 70 strikeouts, including 10 in the game against Oklahoma State. He finished the season pitching five-straight complete games.

Stiller ranks fourth all-time in the Princeton record books with 192 career strikeouts and is eighth all-time in strikeouts per nine innings pitched at 7.95. He was a first-team All-Ivy selection in 2005 and was named the New Jersey Pitcher of the Year. That season he was 6-2 and had a 24.1 scoreless innings streak during the season.